Driverless racecar sets a new autonomous speed record

Look out: there’s a new fastest robot in the world.

A Maserati MC20 Coupe with no one in the driver seat set a new land speed record for autonomous vehicles, reaching 197.7 mph (318 km/h) during an automotive event at the Kennedy Space Center last week.

The Maserati was running self-driving software developed by Politecnico di Milano, Italy’s largest scientific-technological university. The team also worked with the Indy Autonomous Challenge, which most recently ran at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during CES 2025.

197.7 > 192.2

In the shadow of NASA’s iconic Space Shuttles, the race car flew down the 2.8 mile runway at record-breaking speeds, surpassing the 192.2 mph record that was also held by Indy Autonomous Challenge and PoliMOVE, set by an IAC AV-21 race car in April 2022.

The achievement is noteworthy, and not just because an autonomous race car went faster than any other self-driving vehicle before it. It’s partly about stress-testing the reliability of the algorithms that undergird the autonomous driving system, determining how they manage extreme speeds. By pushing the boundaries, the team overseeing the record-breaking home hopes to improve safety by applying their learnings to autonomous road vehicles operating on local roads.

“These world speed records are much more than just a showcase of future technology,” Paul Mitchell, CEO of Indy Autonomous Challenge and Aidoptation BV, said in a statement. “We are pushing AI-driver software and robotics hardware to the absolute edge. Doing so with a streetcar is helping transition the learnings of autonomous racing to enable safe, secure, sustainable, high-speed autonomous mobility on highways.”

The Maserati MC20 is a stylish — and expensive — choice for the autonomous run. Retailing for at least $239,000, the race car sports a mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 that Maserati calls the Nettuno. The engine makes serious power: 621 horsepower and 538 lb-ft of torque, which is sent through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission to the rear wheels.

from The Verge https://ift.tt/PE6Vkhx

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